No Hablo Espagnol

No, really. I don't speak Spanish.

BARCELONA:

The gals and I began our 7 day Spanish adventure with an 8 hour bus ride from Aix to Barcelona. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. We made stops along the way as we cruised along the coast of France to the coast of Spain.

Let me quickly note that we purchased backpacking backpacks for this trip (and our April trip) so we could more easily maneuver on metros and busses...ect.

We arrived in Spain around 9pm, a tidy 45 minutes ahead of schedule. As we reached ground level from the stairs of the metro, backpacks strapped to our backs, we made our way to our hostel, which was located on the famous and popular, La Ramblas...which is the main street of Barcelona.

Our hostel was recommended to us by a friend who had a really great experience with this particular sleeping arrangement. When we arrived, having been wandering around lost for a good 20 min due to some bad directions, we were told our room was in one of the apartments located down the street.

Huh?

We located the appropriate building and opened the iron gate-esque door and began to climb the three marble-staircased floors to the 4th floor.

Upon turning the key that looked like it belonged to a pirate's treasure chest, we stepped into a small room with a kitchen that smelled like corn chips and stagnant water.

When we opened the second door to our actual room, we found a quaint bunk bed for us, a cute little table and chairs and a lovely closet for our belongings. Things were looking up as we crawled into bed for a good nights' sleep.

Friday morning dawned cold, but very sunny. We met up with Sarah's boyfriend, Alex, who is (as I have mentioned before) studying in Bilbao this spring. He was such a doll and took an overnight bus to Barcelona, but still was ready to roll out for a day of sight seeing, complete with being our own personal Spanish translator. Big shout out to Alex :)

We first stopped at La Boqueria, a colorful fresh (everything) market. It had the most gorgeous and colorful fruit I have ever seen! We all purchased strawberries and smoothies (for a euro, mind you) that were so fresh it was unbelievable!

Plus, as always, there was various meat particles hanging from some of the stands...but I'll pretend I didn't see that! Sad.

The rest of the day was spent in the square at the end of La Ramblas feeding the pigeons, visiting Gaudi's most famous church, The Sagrada Familia (complete with visit to the museum and gift shop, always), a walk through Parc Guell, where all of Gaudi's statues and some buildings are constructed..it was such a fun day!

No day in Barcelona would be complete without tapas! Around 10pm, we headed out to this great restaurant right off La Ramblas, called Sinatra (like, Frank). We all ordered a few small dishes (olives, curried chicken with asian veggies and tomato bread for me) and shared everything. Plus chocolate ice cream for dessert...best in Barcelona.

Saturday was a BLAST! We started off by headed to Starbucks (city mugs!), then headed to the harbor and boardwalk to see the ocean.

I was really looking forward to breathing in some sea-salty air.

At the end of La Ramblas, there is a huge glass-looking bridge that extends into the harbor, and at the end there is a HUGE shopping center. It is quite the architectural feat. As you gaze into the bay, there is a cross- harbor cable car that flies above the grey waves. The London Eye of Barcelona, if you will.

We spent the morning and early afternoon shopping, talking and walking all around the ocean...looking at the boats and enjoying the ocean we all hate to live without.

True to Spanish culture, we went back to the hostel around 2pm to take a siesta so we could be up for the long evening of Spanish night life we had planned.

We talked about going out all the nights we were in Barcelona, but lets be real, that's just not us. We voted on just hitting the town Saturday night.

Sarah was dead set on going to this club, Razzmatazz, and with its 5 different mini-clubs and 15 euro cover charge, going there was sure to be a night to remember. The dance floor(s) are located in an old warehouse that houses concerts of huge proportions when big bands come to Barcelona.

I should mention that this month is "carnival" in most of Europe because of the proximity to Lent..especially in really Catholic countries.

We figured this out as we jumped on the metro at around 2:30 am (yes, that's right) to GO to the club.

Everyone was dressed in CRAZY costumes with feathers and masks..it was slightly frightening! I was wearing jean capris and plain black shirt. Ooops, left my face paint at home.

Razzmatazz was as crazy and fun as we thought it would be. The music was true European techno that only should be heard in huge clubs with lots of friends. I will say there was a notable absence of the newest Britney song...and Lady Gaga and Black Eyes Peas sure weren't on ANYONE'S playlist that night.

When I woke up Sunday morning (four hours after I had gone to bed, mind you), I was ready to embark on the next leg of our journey...Madrid! I was sad to be leaving Sarah and Alex (they were headed to Bilbao for a few days), but I felt Barcelona had been good to us.

We had one last Starbucks breakfast together, and Nikki and I boarded our bus West.